While 2025 was a super year for grass growth and preserving winter feed, 2026 has been a far more challenging one.

The spring was very wet, with higher-than-average levels of rainfall and the end result being animals housed longer than anticipated.

The bank of silage that was built up in 2025 was used up almost entirely on the majority of farms by the time animals could get back out grazing.

Growth was exceptional, however, through May and June, and many farms took advantage making heavy first cuts.

The drought had hit by late July and many second cuts suffered as a result. Some were not cut at all and instead used as grazing ground.

When the national fodder committee met in late August and early September, it became apparent that farms, particularly those in Leinster and Munster, were well below normal levels in terms of winter feed reserves.

Some of this deficit was made up in recent weeks, but without doubt, there is going to be a cohort of farms across the country who will be short. The issue won’t necessarily be the months of December and January, but later in February and March.

So, what are the options for those farms that are likely to be under pressure?

Buying silage

Buying silage is the obvious first option if the opportunity is there to do so. Prices are likely to lift as the winter drags on and demand increases, but at even €50/bale, the cost per kilo of dry matter is still only about 23c. That’s less than the cost of any straights like palm kernel, barley or oats, which will be closer to 25c or 30c/kg of dry matter.

Culling cows

Culling the poor performers, empty cows or problem cows is something all farms should be doing anyway, but it is even more important in a time of feed shortage.

A suckler or dairy cow will eat the equivalent of eight to 10 bales between October and April. Therefore, selling the bottom 10 cows in a herd will save between 80 and 100 bales of silage straight away.

In a 100-cow herd, taking those 10 out could mean an extra 15 days of feed.

This tactic is a non-negotiable on all New Zealand farms and one that Irish farms should be adopting a lot more.

Straw

Dry cows don’t have a huge demand for energy and it’s often the case that the dry cow silage quality is too good on farms. This causes cows to go up in body condition and they then start to present with issues post-calving. If a cow is eating 12kg of feed per day, 2kg of straw or hay to replace silage won’t be a problem. This tactic would actually be well served on cows already carrying a lot of body condition going into the shed.

Straights

Feeding a couple of kilos of a straights feed like soya hulls, oats, barley or palm kernel could complement straw on a farm with a severe feed deficit.

For example, the typical 12kg DM/day diet could look like 8kg of silage, 2kg of oats/barley and 2kg of straw. In a 100-cow herd, 4kg/DM of silage saved per cow is a saving of 400kg DM/day.

If the herd demand is 800kg of silage per day (8kg x 100 cows) and the cows are on that diet for 60 days (December to February), there will be enough silage saved to keep the full herd going for an extra 22 days.

The calculation is 400kg DM of silage saved each day, for 60 days. That equates to 24,000kg of silage. Divide this by the herd demand of 800kg/day and you get 30 days of extra feed.

Costs

This straightforward calculation shows the opportunities that are there to stretch out feed. The cost of these diets will be higher than an all-silage winter diet but not by a lot.

Take the diet above, 8kg of silage, 2kg of straw and 2kg of straights. Presuming the silage is already made at a cost of 22c/kg including land charge, the silage cost is €1.76/cow.

The cost of straw at €80 for an 8x4x3 bale containing 340kg of dry matter is 23.5c/kg DM. Therefore, at 2kg the cost in the diet is 47c/cow.

Straits at €250/t is equal to 25c/kg DM, equating to 50c/cow for the two kilos.

All in, the diet is costing roughly €2.73/cow/day. A diet containing 12kg of silage would cost €2.64/cow/day.

Across a 90-day period, the additional cost is roughly €8/cow.

Protein

It’s worth pointing out that if farms plan to swap in alternative feeds for silage during the dry period, care needs to be taken to ensure cows are getting enough protein.

Adding 0.25kg to 0.5kg of soya will help to ensure there is a sufficient protein intake.

Any adjustments that are made to normal diets should be made in consultation with an adviser. If cows start to lose too much condition, there is a problem, and it should be rectified as soon as possible.